More than three-quarters of Americans say they want Congress to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, according to a poll released today by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.
This includes 92% of Democrats and 82% of independents, but also 59% of Republicans and 57% of Make America Great Again supporters, the poll found.
Shutdown sticking point: Extending the beefed-up subsidies, which were created as part of a Biden-administration Covid-19 relief package and are set to expire at year’s end, is the top focus of congressional Democrats. They are demanding that the Republicans who control Capitol Hill include the renewal of the premiums subsidies as part of a deal to fund the federal government for fiscal year 2026, which started October 1.
Republican lawmakers, on the other hand, are pushing to pass a so-called clean continuing resolution, which would not continue the enhanced subsidies.
If the more generous subsidies lapse, Obamacare premiums could more than double in 2026, according to a recent KFF analysis. The enhancement helped draw a record 24 million people to the exchanges for this year, but millions are expected to flee in coming years if Congress doesn’t act.
Just over 2 in 5 Obamacare enrollees said they’d drop their policies if the monthly premiums nearly doubled, the KFF poll found.
Among those who want to extend the enhanced subsidies, some 39% said they would blame President Donald Trump if the more generous assistance expires while 37% said they’d blame congressional Republicans and 22% said the Democrats would be at fault.
